A repaint emerging or heading for a repaint

I’m working on the Grass Trees exhibition that’s happening in our nearest capital city, Brisbane, in July (geography provided for the HD’ers) and so my WBHD work is, hopefully, cooking away in the subconscious. I was so inspired by Chris just goin’ for it recently, and then painting over her piece, that I thought I’d post something that is evolving, devolving, and may end up somewhere interesting. It’s changed again since this recent pic and has led me to rethink the palette of another piece hanging on the wall. Of course, I don’t have time to rethink palettes but it’s happening anyway.

Detail before changes (not as brave as Chris to show whole piece)

Detail after changes, before next changes, before madness :-]

Hopefully a finished piece gets posted this week.

That painting again!

“Big Country” 150cm sq Acrylic collage on canvas. I have a companion piece to this work under way titled ‘Big Sky”.

fingers crossed for a commission.

MAPPING THE DESERT, acrylic and crayon on paper. 29.5″x 41.25″I got an email from an art consultant who showed my work to a client and they are interested in two of my paintings. IF they select one….it will be a commission to repaint it 72″x 48″. I’d do it on canvas, roll and ship for them to stretch. Fingers crossed. This isone of the ones they liked. This one is going to Unsettled Gallery in Las Cruces as one of two of my Wide Bay/High Desert pieces.

Research ….

Reading Time….

Two for Bundaberg….FINITO….WHEEEEEEEEE

Both are 48″x 18″ or 121.92 x 45.72cm….acrylic on unstretched canvas.

Had to finish because I’m busy working toward two solos this year and

other group shows. And life keeps interrupting my studio time. These will

be rolled and tubed and shipped.

Ideas are starting to flow

cattle and kangaroo skulls donated by local farmer

I am finally starting to think about our exhibition….and the ideas are coming quick and fast, too fast and too many. My subject will be Day of the Dead Australian Style…..(or better Marlies’ style) Be prepared – anything can happen.

and a dingo

my rendition of a roo skull

a dingo

an emu

a koala

add a million stamps 🙂

and play – Dingo overlayed with Dingo skull

painting over old artworks…

Back in Mt Perry via New Mexico, New South Wales

It’s nearly 3 weeks since I’ve been in the studio and so a pretty intense period is ahead with a few real deadlines that make the voice in my head go up a few octaves to a near squeak!

Today has been a tidying day, paperwork, computer work, lining the ducks up in a row (do you use that expression in the US?).

I think I used to worry (tho’ not too much) that it was some kind of immature creative avoidance strategy but after many years of it I now see it’s a way of clearing out major distractions and setting up for a big chunk of studio time. And it works every time. When in Sydney I visited the cactus garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens and said hello to some New Mexican friends.

And the homecoming was pretty special too as the only Grass Tree I have planted in our yard has pumped out a 2m high (6ft) flower spike, and a second tiny one alongside. At this stage of blossom emergence birds of all sizes cling to it’s swaying spike and enjoy the honey.

Back to the clearing now, and really quite excited about returning to the art making tomorrow with some fresh canvasses waiting. Squeak.

Close up

Adrienne asked me to post a close up of my stamp portraits…and here they are! By the way, I would love some American stamps, so please keep them for me 🙂

Close up of Christ, recycled postage stamps, 2015

Visions of an Iconoclast

Hi Virginia

Love, love, love your Stations of the Cross and can’t wait to see them in situ in October! Icon and religious subject matter are my favourite genres

12 Faces of Christ 2009, Tissue Paper Collage on canvas

Beauty and Suffering, 2009, Tissue Paper Collage

and I spent a whole year at art school on that subject which then lead me to a new body of work called “Visions of an Iconoclast” dealing with good and bad taste and kitsch culture. Unfortunately, I lost nearly all of the shown artworks in the Bundy flood in 2013.

Main Body of Work for my Honours Year 2010

Clean-up, Bundaberg Flood 2013. 

Nothing New?

After a few technical difficulties I now seem to be able to start blogging.

The last few weeks were fairly hectic with the opening of my solo exhibition “Nothing New?” at the Regional Art Gallery in Bundaberg.  My exhibition features 22 iconic images, portraying well-known figures from popular culture, history, music, fiction and the arts. Each artwork is produced by using used postage stamps to form a stylised image, with each image containing at least 3000 stamps, individually hand cut to shape! All in all it took me 18 months to put the exhibition together…as you can imagine it involved lots of soaking, sorting, cutting and glueing :-), but well worth it! And best of all, one of the portraits “Frida” has sold – my first red dot and the money goes towards my New Mexico fund 🙂 As you might have guessed, I love collage, repetition and anything pop.

Now with the exhibition well under way I can concentrate on my artworks for Wide Bay High Desert. Lots of ideas in my head, but that’s for the next blog 🙂

Exhibition shot at BRAG March 2015

Marilyn 2015

Frida 2015